More than 1 million homes in Peru are highly vulnerable to earthquakes

Lima, june 2023.- UNACEM, through Cemento Sol, launches the “Conocimientos” campaign, which identifies childhood as an opportunity to raise awareness about the mistakes made to date in constructing homes.

Architect and urban planning specialist Manuel de Rivero warned that inadequate construction and informality make homes highly vulnerable to seismic activity, a particularly critical scenario considering that more than 1 million Peruvian homes are in such a condition and could collapse in the event of a major earthquake.

According to Manuel de Rivero, “just on the central coast, 96% of homes are at high risk (52%) and very high risk (44%) in the event of a large-scale earthquake, according to 2021 data from the National Center for Estimating, Preventing and Reducing Disaster Risk (Cenepred). Reversing this reality depends a lot on starting to make new generations aware of the importance of safe construction and good construction practices,” he says.

According to estimates by the Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation, more than 1 500 000 homes in Peru are seriously deficient in construction quality^[1]. “It is a palpable reality that especially puts at risk the future of families, often represented by children, in whom we should encourage a better idea of the dangers of building without quality materials, or plans and soil studies, among others”, adds the architect.

Given this reality, UNACEM’s Cemento Sol brand, has launched the “Knowledge” campaign, which sees in children a great opportunity to raise awareness of the mistakes still being made when building our homes.

Starting from the idea that children are excellent agents of change, capable of influencing even their environment and adults, the campaign devised the first program for school children that raises awareness about safe construction, in a new commitment by the brand to address and help reverse the problem of informal construction, which began in 2021 with its “Protect What You Build” and “8 Steps of Safe Construction” campaigns.

“Informality is mainly born out of ignorance. This campaign seeks to change this panorama from its foundations, and the foundations of families are their children. We have a great opportunity to raise awareness and correct the mistakes of the past from school age onwards, and as worrying as the current figures are, if we educate from that stage, we can save lives“, said Gabriel Barrio, assistant marketing manager of UNACEM.

The campaign consists of a program that seeks to raise awareness of safe construction through play and is aimed at children between 9 and 12 years of age. To do so, it will hold lessons in schools in which each participant will be given a book with a storyline that explains the basic notions of building safely and the importance of following correct construction processes in each project.

Cemento Sol has invited schools to join and get access to the content. 10 schools have already received the first sessions. To register, simply go to www.cementosol.com.pe/conocimientos and share general information about the institution and the applicant.

^[1] MVCS 2020 “Ordinary Meeting of the Housing and Building Commission”. Last visited on June 14, 2022. Available at: https://bit.ly/3aTDmaB